Tor.com, in collaboration with Suvudu, is proud to present the first chapter of Greg van Eekhout’s debut novel, Norse Code, which goes on sale on 19 May from Spectra. From the publishers’ copy:

Is this Ragnarok, or just California?
The NorseCODE genome project was designed to identify descendants of Odin. What it found was Kathy Castillo, a murdered MBA student brought back from the dead to serve as a valkyrie in the Norse god’s army. Given a sword and a new name, Mist’s job is to recruit soldiers for the war between the gods at the end of the world—and to kill those who refuse to fight.
But as the twilight of the gods descends, Mist makes other plans.